Communication systems, including paging systems, cellular telephony systems and land mobile radio systems (also known as two-way radio systems), are well known. In recent years, the worlds of cellular and land mobile radio have converged such that a land mobile subscriber, utilizing a two-way radio, may communicate with a cellular subscriber. Thus, the land mobile subscriber is unencumbered from the need to carry both a cellular phone and the two-way radio. Presently, however, there is no similar convergence of land mobile radio and external paging systems, i.e., that can be accessed by the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Consequently, land mobile subscribers that desire to receive external pages must carry a separate pager. It would be desirable for land mobile subscribers to receive external pages on their two-way radio without carrying a separate pager. More generally, it would be desirable for subscribers having devices operable to communicate via a first wireless protocol to receive message that are originated using a second protocol.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus that incorporates pager functionality into a land mobile radio system, or generally that enables a user to receive, on a device (e.g., two-way radio) adapted to communicate using a first wireless protocol, messages that are originated from a second wireless protocol such as a paging service protocol. The present invention is directed to satisfying these needs.